With These Eyes I See
by hinshihoushi
Summary: Sasuke has now returned from a six year absence. What will he find?


Title: With These Eyes I See Rating: M or R/NC-17 (Eventually) Warnings: Possible Yaoi, N/C, Spoilers - anything and everything is possible. You have been forewarned. Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! With These Eyes I See 

**Chapter One**

Balancing on the uppermost branches of one of the giant trees that the area was known for, the ebony haired man allowed his gaze to take in his first sight of Konoha in what felt like a lifetime. Taking a few deep breaths, he attempted to subdue the nervousness that was threatening to overcome him.

Six years he had been gone from Konoha. Four of those as a virtual prisoner of Orochimaru. A far cry from the implied invitation he had received from the rouge Sannin when he was barely a teenager. Then, with little explanation, he had found himself released.

At first, he had thought of nothing else, but returning to Konoha. This was probably due to the instructions that Orochimaru had given him before he was released and with his conditioning to obey the Sannin, he blindly started out for the place he once called home. However, the closer he got to his intended destination, the more he found his conviction to do so leave him.

If someone had told him that he had strong familial feelings for others before he left Konoha, he would have sneered at and then promptly ignored them, but during the four years he was living in the Hidden Sound, it was the memories and imaginings of his precious people that kept him going. What was ironic though was that it was the thoughts of those same precious people that had also kept him from returning.

During his stay with Orochimaru, he would often anticipate a reunion with Team Seven. Kakashi-sensei with his laid back attitude and perverted book, even Sakura and her borderline stalking, but most of all the blonde boy that once called him best friend and brother, Naruto. It was Naruto that had claimed most of his thoughts and it was ultimately the guilt he felt towards the dobe, that kept him away from Konoha for the past two years.

Countless times he had dreamed of looking into those sky blue eyes and seeing acceptance and forgiveness, but as the impending reunion became closer to occurring, it was fear of seeing hate and rejection in those very eyes that made him turn away from his intended path. It took him the first few months without Orochimaru looking over his shoulder, before he accepted that he was finally free from the snake nin and could take the time to really acknowledge his feelings for those he left behind.

In the end, it really didn't surprise him when he realized how he truly felt about his friend. It had always been Naruto that he responded to and it was in all actuality, Naruto that drove him to become stronger. Granted his ultimate goal was always to take vengeance out on Itachi, but it was his rivalry with Naruto that helped him to accomplish as much as he did prior to the Chunnin exams. It was only after he was cured by Tsunade, after his first fight with Itachi, that he had let jealousy start to eat at him and hinder his growth.

If he had been able to recognize the true source of Naruto's strength he would have saved himself and others so much grief. Orochimaru had often hinted as to some secret of Naruto's, sometimes deliberately teasing him. Sasuke had often wondered at the hidden power that Naruto seemed to be able to bring forth out of nowhere, often taking his enemies by surprise. It was really Kabuto that gave him his first clue.

Kabuto often spoke of Naruto or Naruto-kun as he was most likely to refer to him as. At first, Sasuke thought he was following just one more form of torture, but he soon came to realize that Kabuto was unusually fond of the brat and in fact, respected him. Considering who Kabuto followed, this was somewhat surprising until you looked underneath the underneath and realized that there may be more to his actions than how they appeared. However, Kabuto's reasons were his own and Sasuke was not about to become involved.

It was during one such conversation that Kabuto had revealed Naruto's relationship with the new Kazekage, Gaara. While listening to Kabuto explain the effects Naruto had on the once psychotic murderer, he couldn't help but feel jealous. Deep down he knew he should be proud and in awe that Naruto was able to have such an influence on the leader of Hidden Sand, but he could only seem to focus on the fact that Naruto had such a close enough relationship with someone else. He knew it was too much too hope for, but he didn't want to be replaced as Naruto's best friend and from what he was hearing, he just might have been.

However, when Kabuto asked him what he thought was the main influence that Naruto had on Gaara, all he could think of was that Naruto had beaten Gaara during the invasion and that the sand nin respected such a show of power. He was stunned to hear Kabuto give the real reason for Gaara's transformation. According to their network of spies, Naruto had shown Gaara that it was okay to let people in to your life and that it was the need to protect your precious people, that gives one true strength. Obviously Gaara had taken this lesson to heart, because it was reported that he now had a strong relationship with his siblings and was now Kazekage of Hidden Sand with concrete ties to Hidden Leaf. If that wasn't a show of true power, he didn't know what was.

So armed with this knowledge and his freedom, he journeyed forth and spent the two years watching and learning, while searching for his brother. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on which way you looked at it, he had just recently come upon the info that his brother had been killed almost three years ago.

He had been in a seedy bar on the outskirts of the Hidden Mist when he overheard a conversation between what were obviously a couple of missing nins. From the way they were talking, they must have been underlings of the Akatsuki, the organization that his brother had belonged to and the reason that he had been after Naruto all those years ago. They had been complaining about the organization's demise and the wrong choices that lead up to it. It seemed that the biggest reason was the inner core's desire for the demonic power held by certain individuals and that it was the capture of Gaara that caused the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Sand to team up against the Akatsuki. Although, it seemed that it was primarily Naruto that caused most of the damage to the group.

From what he gathered, Naruto, while rescuing the Kazekage, went up against a few members of the organization, including Itachi and it was while defending their lives that he destroyed Itachi and some of his cohorts. When he heard this, he again experienced a myriad a emotions. Ranging from anger at Naruto, that he killed his brother before he could, to jealousy again because this proved that Gaara was one of Naruto's precious persons. How else would Naruto have killed off so many Class S missing nins by himself, if his hidden power hadn't come out to protect those that he cherished.

He had later followed the missing nins out of the village and cornered them when they were far enough away. He had to restrain himself from slitting their throats right then and there, when they first mistook him for Itachi and called him by his brother's name. He soon showed them the error of assuming and was able to gain a little more information. This was when he learned that this had all taken place almost three years ago and once again he had to hold his anger back, but then he remembered who they were and figured there would certainly not be any loss to the world and slit their throats before they could blink.

Thankfully, that little surge of requited bloodlust helped to get his emotions back on track and he reasoned that Naruto did what he needed to do. Hell, it wasn't like he went out of his way to take Sasuke's goal away from him and knowing Naruto, he was feeling unjustifiably guilty about it too.

However, Orochimaru was nowhere near that simple. For over a year he lied to him. He had kept him there with promises of power to destroy Itachi, threats against Naruto and of course the curse seal. Thankfully, he had removed the seal when he released Sasuke. To this day, considering the lengths he had gone to in order to keep him, Sasuke still couldn't understand why he finally let him go.

All Sasuke had to go on was his last meeting with the snake nin. Orochimaru had called him into his chambers, a place that he luckily hadn't seen in over a year, and told him he no longer required the Sharingan and that he had negotiated Sasuke's return to the Hidden Leaf. When Sasuke had just stared at him, the Sannin laughed and told him that he would have just let Sasuke to rot in his room, but that his home village had initiated negotiations, obtained his release and were expecting him to return as a full member of the village. He didn't understand how or why and in fact he still didn't, but he had wasted no time in packing his weapons and some extra clothing before taking off like a bat out of hell.

Now he found himself approaching the final leg of his journey. He was coming home. Home to Naruto, because for all intents and purposes, they were one in the same to him.

_ scene change _

As expected, Sasuke found himself stopped at the gates to the village. What he didn't expect was the identity of one of the two jounin before him.

For a moment, emotion flashed across Shikamaru's face before it took on his well established bored expression. Sasuke could have sworn he felt extremely angry vibes coming off the jounin and though he had expected to be on the receiving end of a lot of anger, he wasn't quite expecting such strong anger tinged with bitterness. Hell he was never that close with the lazy ninja, but he had respected his mind even though he didn't agree with his outlook on life.

"Oi, Uchiha! It's about time you decided to crawl back here. We've been expecting you for a long time now. You are way too troublesome, you know that?"

"Hn." was all that Sasuke replied, his mind no longer acknowledging the current situation, but instead thinking about the meetings to come.

"Jeez, you haven't really changed have you? I guess it's more than we could have hoped for even if Na-".

"That's enough Nara." interrupted the other guard. Sasuke took this moment to look over at the other man and recognized him as the examiner for the final round of the chunnin exam. The senbon hanging out of his mouth was a dead giveaway to his identity, although Sasuke did not know his name.

"Gomen, Genma-san." Shikamaru apologized although he didn't sound the least bit contrite to Sasuke's ears, but evidently it was adequate for his partner, because the one he now knew as Genma acknowledged the apology with a brief nod and turned back to Sasuke.

"Uchiha, we've been awaiting your return for quite some time, but I believe you need to be speaking with the Godaime Hokage instead of catching up with old friends:" he advised while rolling the needle from one side of mouth to the other. Shikamaru and Sasuke both gave the senior jounin a death glare. Shrugging it off as if was nothing, he continued. "Tch. Talk about troublesome, why don't you? Listen up. Nara, go get an escort for the Uchiha and make sure it is someone who can keep their mouth shut. At least until any and all meetings are over with. Understand?"

"Hai, Genma-san." And with that Shikamaru was off. Sasuke never would have thought that the guy could move that fast.

With his first confrontation over with, Sasuke leaned against the outside wall and watched as Genma resumed his guard duty, seeming to ignore him even though Sasuke knew full well that he was keeping an eye on him.

In what seemed like no time, Shikamaru returned with someone that Sasuke had hoped to put off meeting. He made sure that he didn't show any signs, but inwardly he cringed as his former mentor approached him with a blank stare in his one visible eye.

"Oi Sasuke, you're late!" exclaimed the copy nin as he came to a stop a few feet in front of Sasuke.

'_Jeez. Is this the greeting I'm going to get from everyone when they see me?'_ wondered Sasuke. Unwisely, his brain mouth decided sarcasm would best suit the situation before his brain could intercede. "Well you see there was this cat-" he began, but was cut off by Kakashi before he could hardly begin.

"That may well be, but I think you need to give your excuses to Tsunade-sama first. Don't you think, Sasuke?" and with that Kakashi tossed a previously unnoticed bundle towards him, then turned and walked back through the now opened gate, obviously expecting Sasuke to follow.

A bit startled at yet another unnerving encounter, he did his best to let it slide and not deter him from his plans. _'Remember, you really only desire the acceptance of Naruto and you know he is notorious when it comes to forgiving others. You can get through the rest as long as he's there.' _he tried to reassure himself.

Seeing that the bundle tossed to him was a rolled up cloak, he swiftly donned it, knowing this was to ensure that he saw the Hokage in secret before news of his arrival spread. Jogging to catch up to Kakashi, he silently followed him to the Hokage's tower.

As they neared the building's entrance, Kakashi stopped and turned to his once prized student. Scratching the back of his head, he let out a tired sigh and addressed the younger man. "Sasuke, I know this isn't easy for you, but there are people here who will be genuinely glad that you have returned. Remember that as you meet with the Hokage. You will undoubtedly have questions after your meetings, so you can find me at home later on if you want answers. I won't lie to you, they won't be things you want to hear, but I won't keep anything from you." And with those cryptic remarks he beckoned Sasuke to follow him once more and proceeded to enter the tower.

Before Sasuke knew it, he was standing outside of the Hokage's offices, while Kakashi was inside apprising the Godaime of his return. Hearing a few colorful phrases uttered in a feminine voice, he winced. _'Well that doesn't sound promising.'_ He thought to himself just as Kakashi came out to usher him into the main office.

There sitting and glaring from behind her desk was, the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade-sama. Walking up to the front of her desk, Sasuke bowed and addressed her, attempting to be as humble as an Uchiha would allow himself to be.

"Godaime-sama, I have come to request that I be allowed to return to the village. If you chose to refuse my request, I ask that I be allowed to meet with certain individuals, after which I will leave and never darken Konoha's doorstep again." Sasuke explained while keeping his eyes trained on the floor between himself and the Hokage.

During the moments that followed his request, Sasuke dared a peak at the powerful female ninja. He could clearly see that she was conflicted as to how she should address his request. Lowering his gaze again, he heard her sigh before she began with a hint of resignation in her voice.

"Uchiha Sasuke, by all rights, as you were considered a missing nin, you should be held for treason against the Hidden Leaf, but as I am sure Orochimaru advised you, we specifically orchestrated your release and punishing you in such a way would clearly be in direct conflict of our actions."

She paused a moment as a saddened look showed in her eyes, only to be wiped away a moment later. "Furthermore, there is one person in particular who would never forgive me if I did not grant your request. This person is most precious to me and had a direct hand in obtaining your freedom, at great personal expense I might add. I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that one of the people that you wish to see is this same person, and I warn you, that you better be on your best behavior. Because, if you cause him even one ounce of any further grief, there won't be anywhere that you can hide from me. Am I making myself clear?" To reinforce her statement, she brought her fist down on her desk, promptly breaking it in two. "Dammit! Not another one, now I'm going to have to put up with Shizune preaching to me again about my departmental budget!" Sasuke heard her mutter in irritation.

"Hokage-sama, if you are speaking of Naruto, then we are at an understanding." He boldly answered. "Also, I wish to convey me deepest regret at my past actions that caused those I care about so much grief." he added as sincerely as he could.

Taken slightly aback at his admission, Tsunade sighed wearily before addressing his last statement. "If that's truly the case, why did you not return when you were released? We had confirmation that the bastard held up his end of our deal, but when you didn't return, we began to assume that he neglected to tell you that you were free to come back. However, we received further confirmation that he did indeed advise you that your re-entrance into the village was part of the deal, but you had seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. What happened? Why did you not return?" she demanded.

"I was unable to do so at the time, Hokage-sama." he answered, unsure as to how he could explain without giving too much information about his fragile emotional state at the time.

"Wouldn't or couldn't?" once again demanding an answer from the boy, no, young man, standing before her.

Sasuke allowed his gaze to meet hers' before answering. "Both." Was all he allowed to pass his lips before returning his gaze back down to the floor.

Tsunade felt her breath catch. _'Did I see what I thought I did? Well Naruto you may just have proved me wrong. There may be hope for him after all. Damn brat!'_

"Very well then." Pausing a moment for effect, she then continued "Request approved. However, you will have to answer some questions first." she advised the now relived Uchiha.

Leaning forward, she pushed the button on her intercom. "Shizune, has Ibiki-san arrived?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama. He is standing right here. Do you wish him to come in?" Shizune inquired.

"Hai. Send him on in." the Hokage confirmed. Looking over at the startled boy, she could see that he was becoming agitated. Clearly he either knew Ibiki or at least knew of his reputation. Attempting to put him more at ease, she addressed the former missing nin once again.

"Relax Sasuke." she advised, her voice much gentler now. "He is not here in the capacity that you might think. Although he is here to obtain your rendering of the past six years, he is merely going to be asking you questions in order to verify a few things."

Feeling slightly better, Sasuke merely nodded his head and cautiously waited for Ibiki to enter.

_ scene change _

It was late evening when Sasuke finally left the Hokage's offices after having endured several hours of Ibiki's integrating. After they were through, he verified that both Naruto and Kakashi had not moved from their respective apartments and took his leave.

All in all, it could have gone much worse he reflected. It seemed they only really wanted to ascertain whether or not he was truly free of Orochimaru's influence and for that he couldn't really blame them. He knew full well how lucky he was to be given the second chance that the village was awarding him and for once he didn't feel that it was because he was the last Uchiha alive and therefore, the only means of resurrecting the clan and its' bloodline limit. Although, for the life of him, he couldn't think of any other reason.

Now he found himself wandering the darkened streets of Konoha, attempting to regain the courage to confront the one he had wronged so badly all those years ago. It was late enough, that there were very few inhabitants roaming about and those that were, hurried along their way, eager to finish whatever business kept them out so late. Hands in his pockets and long bangs covering his identity, he trudged along without anyone paying much attention and for this he was grateful.

Passing familiar and unfamiliar buildings he eventually found his way to the section of the village were Naruto resided. A few more minutes found him standing under a lone streetlight directly across from his destination. Leaning up against the pole, he allowed his gaze to settle on the loan darkened window. Deciding to wait a bit, he let the possibilities of the upcoming meeting run through his mind. He was so lost in his thoughts, that he neglected to notice the presence of one of his former teammates along with two other acquaintances. They, however, did not miss him.

"Sasuke-kun? Is that really you" a shaky voice questioned.

Looking up he could just barely make out the pink tinted hair that belonged to Sakura. Mentally groaning at his luck he stood up straight and faced another part of his past.

"Hello Sakura." he answered, hoping that she wouldn't revert to her actions during their team seven days and glomp him where he stood. If she did, he hoped that a jury of his peers wouldn't convict him for committing murder during his first day back from being a missing nin.

"It really is you." he heard her confirm to herself in a barely audible whisper. Bracing himself for the inevitable, he awaited her next move. He was surprised to find that instead of Stalker Sakura, he found a totally different woman in front of him. He watched as the look in her eyes hardened into, dare he say, an unforgiving stare and the next thing he knew, he found himself the recipient of well placed and high powered slap to his left cheek.

Staggering back a few steps, he looked up and watched as Sakura stalked towards him, a look of suppressed fury on her face.

"You…you…bastard. You complete fucking asshole! I can't believe this! Where the hell have you been? When he...we…needed you!" Sakura fumed making ready to launch another attack upon him only to be held back by her two companions.

Although he never had too much contact with them, other than during the chounin exams, he recognized them as the taijutsu fighter, Rock Lee, and the other stoic prodigy of his generation, Hyuuga Neji. He also noticed that all three were wearing jounin vests. Cursing himself for the envy he felt at that sight and for being caught unawares, his brain finally began to register Sakura's angry words.

"Hn." he responded with a glare of his own. One day someone was going to realize that he used this as a delaying tactic to sort out his thoughts, but for now it was okay that it served its dual purpose in pissing people off. He really wasn't in the mood to stand here under Naruto's window and have yet another meeting with people that he had no real wish to see.

"Sakura-chan, please calm down. This isn't what he would want." pleaded the boy dressed in what looked to like a modified version of the green jumpsuit he wore as a genin.

"Gomen, Lee-kun. You're right. It's just…oh Kami….I don't know anymore….gomen." Sakura began to settle herself down and took a deep breath before returning her attention to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, I" she paused for a moment, seeming to chose her words carefully. "Where have you been? Why didn't you return when you were released? It's been really hard you know? I don't understand after everything that was done to get you back that you couldn't at least care enough to return. We needed you here. He needed you. So why?"

"Listen Sakura, I don't know what the Leaf gave up or what the terms of the release were, but I didn't ask for anyone's help. I have already met with Tsunade-sama. Other than that I don't owe anyone else an explanation, other than one or two people and you're not one of them." He coldly answered.

Not surprisingly he heard one hurt and two outraged gasps, but he continued on. "As to being needed, I doubt that's true. I don't know who the "he" is that you're referring to, but the only males that I was ever close to are Kakashi-sensei and Naruto and I can't see either of those two "needing" anyone, much less me."

"Well then you are mistaken Uchiha-san. It is the light of your rival that has dimmed over the years. He has faced many trials both within the village and outside of it and though many would wish it otherwise, no one has held the same bond that you and he have. He will not allow himself to lean on anyone, no matter what. It is up to you to bring back the sparkle to those once youthful eyes. It is-"

"Enough Lee!" the Hyuuga demanded of his teammate. "I think that's enough don't you?

Lee looked over at his female companion and her stricken face. Tears then started to roll down his cheeks in distress. "Gomen! Gomen nasai, Sakura-chan. I will not eat or sleep for seven days. Then I will walk around Konoha on my hands and knees five hundred times as an act of contrition. Please forgive meeee." he wailed.

Both Neji and Sasuke rolled their eyes and then glared at each other as they noticed their similar reaction to Lee's outburst. Except Neji did something about it and smacked Lee in the back of his head. "Baka!" was all that was said and Lee shut up finally realizing that this was not the place or time for such antics.

"Uchiha." Sasuke found himself addressed by the last member of their group.

"Hyuuga."

"I assume that you are here to speak with Naruto. If so, go to him he deserves answers and if not, you need to leave and never and I mean never come back. Just know that there are others that have been waiting to take your place in his life if he would just allow it."

Sasuke felt jealousy creep up and attempted to squash it back down. "Gaara doesn't worry me" he professed.

"I wasn't only speaking of Gaara." And with a knowing glare he turned his back on Sasuke and led the other two away, with Sakura looking back over her shoulder at him.

"Remember my words Uchiha" was Neji's parting shot and then they were gone.

"Che. Asshole." Sasuke grumbled under his breath. He really didn't need all this crap while he was trying to gear up for his meeting with Naruto. _'And what the hell was all the concern for the dobe anyways? You would think he was some kind of prize. No one cared before, but then that was five years ago and he does have a bad habit of getting under one's skin. Hell, look at yourself. Oh fuck it. Let's get this over with.' _

With a sigh, Sasuke began to walk across the street to Naruto's apartment building. Luckily, he remembered which one it was and began climbing the stairs to the top floor. On his way up he noticed that the place didn't seem nearly as run down as it did a few years ago. Coming to the dobe's door, he raised his clenched fist and rapped hard on the door. He knocked again. And again.

Finally he accepted that Naruto wasn't home, but he had come this far and wasn't about to leave just to go through it all over again. With that thought, he walked along the wall to Naruto's window, which he found to be accommodatingly open, and climbed through.


End file.
